The suburban county of Nassau on New York’s Long Island needs a strong, independent district attorney willing to pursue all manner of crimes, political and otherwise. For that reason, Nassau voters have an important choice in Tuesday’s off-year election, between a seasoned prosecutor who has been Nassau’s acting D.A. for the last 10 months and a legal lightweight deeply embedded in the county’s powerful Republican machine.

Madeline Singas, the Democrat in this race, has been serving as Nassau’s acting D.A. since the former occupant, Kathleen Rice, resigned in January to become a...| read more

Ours is the only nation in the world where local prosecutors are elected, a way for citizens to hold them accountable for the enormous power they wield on individual lives and our collective well-being.

That wasn't always the case. District attorneys were once appointed by governors or the state's top judge. The result was patronage for political supporters and partisan investigations of political opponents. A reform movement swept the nation in the mid-19th century, and the public won the right to elect local prosecutors.

The candidates for Nassau district attorney attacked each other sharply in a televised debate Wednesday night, with Democrat Madeline Singas calling Republican Kate Murray "utterly unprepared" for the job, and Murray saying Singas had "no management or executive experience, and it shows."

Singas, the acting district attorney, and Murray, the Hempstead Town supervisor, used the live 30-minute debate on News 12 Long Island to offer campaign platforms they've tested at numerous events and in frequent television commercials and mailers.